So there I was, contentedly strolling home from the village, drenched despite my umbrella. In my other hand swung a carrier bag plump with a new jumper. As I approached the dog-legged walk-through which cuts five minutes off the journey, I could hear a man’s heavy footsteps getting quickly closer behind me. Call me paranoid if you wish, but I took the long route which brought me within sniffing-range of the takeaway. “Hmm,” said my inner alter-ego, the one who has no regard for calories, “it’s light years since I had a curry. I’d really like something hot and spicy.” And so, my will power being somewhat soggy due to the torrential rain, (she says, grasping straws - or should that be "oars"?), I thoroughly enjoyed a rather tasty chicken curry served on a bed of steamed rice. Now, understand this: this household rarely dines on takeaway food. It’s expensive, often tastes mediocre at best, and tends to be saturated in goodness knows what kind of fat which is goodness knows how

We enjoyed an excellent meal at The Devon Doorway in Heswall. The contemporary restaurant is tastefully arranged, with comfortably spaced polished tables in a series of alcoves. The cuisine was of a faultless standard, and when we discovered that everything on the desert menu contained dairy products the chef quickly offered an alternative choice which – like the main meal – was beautifully presented. The occasion was, of course, Hallowe’en – which is also our anniversary. Time is a funny old thing, don’t you think? We fell to the predictable subject of how long we’ve been together and of the experiences this has brought. So many people told us, at the outset, that our relationship wouldn’t work, that we were too different. We are, in all truth, two very different people; two highly independent, individualistic people. And yet here we are, still together and happily so. In fact, these-days we get along better than ever.

The temporary incapacitation caused by this pesky bronchial pneumonia has allowed me to indulge in a prolonged bout of reading. I highly recommend an exceptionally well-written first novel by Khaled Hosseini , The Kite Runner , both as a pleasurably bitter-sweet tale and as a seemingly balanced insight into recent Afghan life. We enjoyed a lovely trip to Chester on Monday. The River Dee had flooded the lower level of the river walk, but I have seen the waters higher on rare occasions. A gorgeous swan came to say hello to me. What beautiful creatures they are; and though to describe them as regal might be an unforgivable cliché, this word truly does belong to these magnificent birds. They can be surprisingly fierce – apparently their wings can break a man’s leg – and yet if you’ve ever watched one sailing along with cygnets hitching a ride on their backs then you’d know how tender they can be also. We lunched in The Slug and Lettuce, which was rather pleasant, before having a wand